An Ari Update

Our little dude is fast approaching 2 years old. He has changed so much in the last few months. It amazes me every day to watch him grow and learn and change. And I feel so lucky to be able to stay at home with him and watch it all happen every day!

I loved my son when he was a baby, but still, he was FUSSY as all get out. And then we went through all the ear infections, and also the intense separation anxiety stage. Although we have moved onto some defiance, hitting, and tantrums - i.e. terrible twos - this job is really just getting easier and easier and more fun as the months go by. He is mostly a happy kid nowadays and he is smart as all get out and learning so many new things. He is super sweet as well, always giving us hugs and kisses and loves. <3

Let's start with his interests and favorite things! Ari loves:

* anything with wheels!

* books / being read to!

* baths and water play!

* playing at the playground and taking walks and generally being outdoors as much as we can!

* food! Some of his favorites: tacos, beans, noodles, most any fruit, cucumbers, chips and salsa. He will still eat most anything we give him which is a blessing!

* spending time with friends and family - he gets very excited about any plans we have to see them!

* music and singing songs and dancing!

* playing with his baby dolls, train sets, and cell phone(s) (anything of the correct size with buttons is a cell phone!). He feeds his dolls, gives them drinks, and lays them on their stomachs to put them down for naps, wherein he pats their backs and sings "rock a baby, rock a baby" to them. :)

* playing anything, any time with Dada!


Ari's newest skills:

* counting! He can reliably count two of anything and is working on going up to five.

* talking! He has been going through a language explosion recently, stringing words together and learning new words just about every day. His newest word of today: "fwip fop" (i.e. flip flops, which he pointed out when I put on my sandals today).

* peeing in the potty! We are starting potty training slowly. He recently started waking up in the morning totally dry! So he pees in the potty in the morning, before nap, and before bath time, and any time in between that he asks to go. So far we haven't offered any reward other than flushing the toilet after we dump his pee into it, which he thinks is pretty cool.

* learning his colors. So far he seems to know blue, red, yellow, green, and purple - and purple appears to be his favorite color right now.

* Last but certainly NOT least, he has been sleeping better and better for months now. He has had some set backs with being sick or teething, but overall we have seen consistent improvement. This week he has been sleeping for 9+ hours straight before waking, then going back to sleep for another 1-2 hours. It is AWESOME and long awaited!

And finally, some pictures from a recent walk to the park. :)